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Playing with phone lenses!

iPhoneography, Photography Tips, Tips
By Sarah Rhodes

Playing with iPhone lenses!If you're anything like me (Sarah), when you got your smart phone, you were like, "Where have you been all my life!?" I love my DSLR and beautiful lenses as much as anyone, but there's something really special about always having a good camera in your pocket to grab things you might have otherwise missed if you're not into toting around your camera bag everywhere you go. I've been hearing about phone lenses for awhile, and I was curious to see just how much these lenses could up my iPhoneography game. I just thought I would share some of my favorite things about these portable little lenses and how they can completely change your smart phone imagery! Playing with iPhone lenses! There are plenty of options when you're searching for phone lenses, so I opted to get both the cheapest pack I could find (a wide angle/macro lens and a fisheye lens by VicTsing for $9.39 here) and the pricier Photojojo lenses ($20 each for the wide angle/macro lens and the telephoto lens, purchased here).Playing with iPhone lenses! The only step in using these lenses is to attach the magnet ring around your camera. This will work with any smart phone camera as long as you can fit a ring around it! The lenses are magnetic and will stick to the ring (although they can be knocked off—they're just held on by magnets, after all). The lenses work best if they are centered over the phone camera. (The notch in the magnetic ring is to allow your flash some space if your phone's flash is too close to your camera.) And side note—the rings have a very strong adhesive. My ring has been on my phone for about two weeks now and has not budged at all!

Here are a few photos I took around the studio so you can see photos from each lens!Playing with iPhone lenses! The photo above was taken with the iPhone camera—no lenses are attached.

Playing with iPhone lenses! I really think the Photojojo and the VicTsing wide angle lenses are very similar! The only differences I see are really subtle—the distortion (the edges are darker on the VicTsing lens) and the color balance is a little different between the two photos, but it's barely noticeable. This wide angle lens would be great for group photos, landscapes, and home tour photos. It allows a lot more details on the edges into the photo. Playing with iPhone lenses! As you can see, the fisheye lens is pretty nuts! The distortion is extra, extra wide. It's not a very sharp lens, but this look is definitely more for fun—you're not going to be using any of these photos seriously anyway! I can see this lens being used a lot for extreme fun photos—summer vacation photos, Slip ’n Slide, skate parks, and those close-up photos of puppies with huge eyes. You know what I mean?

The Photojojo telephoto lens is a 2x zoom effect. There's a little distortion around the edges, but it's a great lens if you want a little extra zoom on your photo. I think it would work really nicely for portraits. Here's another example of how you can use the telephoto lens:Playing with iPhone lenses! This telephoto lens is probably as close to a DSLR look you can get with a smart phone camera—the strawberry looks sharp and the book and the floor behind it are starting to blur out. You'll still see a little distortion on the edges, but if you're in the habit of cropping photos to a square, you'll have no problem cropping it out!Playing with iPhone lenses! The macro lenses are EXTRA fun to play with! With both brands, you just take the wide angle lens and unscrew the top off, and the bottom half becomes your macro lens. The focus is really specific and sharp on the most tiny details! Just a fair warning: don't try to aim this macro lens at your fingernails… especially if you're a nail biter like me. Horrifying! 🙂 Playing with iPhone lenses! I loved getting to play around with both brands of lenses, and I love that there are several different price points for these—and even the cheapest ones worked really well! There are a lot more phone lenses out there than we have even heard of. Do you have any that are your favorites? Please share! 

Credits:// Author: Sarah Rhodes, Photography: Laura Gummerman and Sarah Rhodes. Photos edited with A Beautiful Mess Photoshop actions.

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